We are celebrating the news that Hartlepool will receive £25m as a part of the latest round of Town Deal announcements. The College, which has been a part of the town for over 170 years since it was founded in 1849, has two exciting projects within the town’s overall bid.
One builds on the partnership with Seymour Civil Engineering and the Civil Engineering Academy at Brenda Road. This investment will afford the opportunity to develop the Brenda Road site as well as to make the necessary investment in the College’s Exeter Street site which in tandem will make an industry-leading, regional hub of skills development in the vibrant industries of construction, civil engineering, digital telecoms and renewable energy. The other project is in partnership with North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust and will transform part of the Holdforth Road site into a state-of-the-art training facility, making Hartlepool a market leader in skills development for the health industry.
Darren Hankey, our Principal said, “this is superb news for the town. As I mentioned to many non-Hartlepool based journalists in the run-up to the recent by-election; the town has many bright spots and this investment will hopefully add more of these to Hartlepool and make the current ones shine more brightly. We’re particularly pleased as this investment will allow us to more of what we do best – transform students’ lives by providing high-quality technical training and education. The two projects with which we’re involved underline our approach to working with key partners and will allow us to provide high-quality education and training in the fields of civil engineering, health and social care.”
Hartlepool was one of 100 towns across England invited to develop innovative regeneration plans and potentially secure up to £25 million through the Government’s Towns Fund initiative. As part of the process of securing a Town Deal, a Town Investment Plan setting out proposed developments and how they would be delivered within a five-year period was drafted. Work on this was carried out throughout 2020 – a very challenging time due to the pandemic - and submitted to the Government at the end of January.
The whole process was led by the Hartlepool Town Deal Board - chaired by local businessman Alby Pattison and comprising representatives of the local public, private and voluntary sectors - and shaped by consultation with the local community. Now that the Town Deal has been approved, work will begin in earnest to develop projects in more detail, with further input from local residents seen as vital.
